Loving God, Living Water,

It is hard to watch you, to know your struggle,

to see the violence of the state that bruises and breaks,

to imagine your pain,

to know you stripped, bettered, betrayed and alone.

But I will come.

I will join you there.

I will bear witness to your pain.

And I will come to see you in the crucified people of El Salvador and Palestine,

Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine

struggling for justice in the streets of Omaha, Jerusalem and everywhere in between.

I will come to see you in the wounds that enslave humanity to power and greed;

to see you in the child who hungers, the dispossessed making a claim and the inmate deemed beyond reform,

the refugee displaced and the elder abused, forgotten and alone.

I will come and open my eyes to the heartbreak to say, “No” to violence that betrays our humanity

and, “Yes” to the sacred twinkling in eyes across our city and around the globe.

I will come. I will show up for the change we are called to be.

Amen.

As you read finish, consider reading Psalm 22, John 18:1-19:42 and/or Mathew 26:47-27:61. Allow the readings and the litany some space in your day as you prepare for holy week. Maybe you could write your own verse of where you see crucifixions today or your own verse of where you try a little and a little more.